Managing sustainability tensions under disruptive conditions: the role of cumulative operations and network capabilities

Purpose This study explores how manufacturing plants navigate tensions between economic and social-ecological priorities during high-impact, low-frequency (HILF) disruptions, which are conceptually understood as combining environmental uncertainty and internal resource constraints. It investigates whether cumulatively developed operations and network capabilities help mitigate trade-offs that arise under such conditions. Design/methodology/approach Drawing on paradox theory and cumulative capability models, the study applies partial least squares structural equation modelling and sequence testing to survey data from 135 automotive plants before and after COVID-19. Tensions are examined through observed trade-off patterns between traditional operations and sustainability capabilities. We clarify the scope by positioning HILF as contextual, and we support this with archival indicators. Findings The results suggest that plants which had developed capabilities cumulatively, following the Sand Cone sequence prior to disruption, experienced fewer trade-offs during the crisis. A high level of network capabilities prior to disruption further reduced trade-offs and enabled plants to either maintain or develop social-ecological sustainability capabilities under disruption conditions. Surprisingly, many of the analysed plants had not followed the Sand Cone sequence before the crisis, which exacerbated trade-offs during disruption. Originality/value The study re-examines the Sand Cone model within a HILF disruption context and proposes an extended Supply Chain Sand Cone model that integrates cumulative operations capabilities within plants with network capabilities across supply chains. It shows how manufacturing plants can manage sustainability-related tensions between economic and social-ecological priorities through paradoxical responses of temporal separation via cumulative capability development and spatial separation via the integration of network capabilities. Practical implications include the value of deliberate sequencing and supply network integration to support sustainability under crisis conditions.